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Abstract

The theme for this master thesis is feedback on
Norwegian middle school student texts.
The aim of the thesis is to see how teachers
understand the effect feedback can have as a
tool for learning and how this can contribute
to elevate the competence of the students in
written language.The methodological approach of
this research is qualitative, with partially
structured interviews of five teachers in
Norway. The informants all come from the same
school, and was asked via their principal to
attend the survey.
I discuss the teachers understanding of
assessment for learning related to the
principles presented on Utdanningsdirektoratet
(Udir, a), also stated in Forskrift til
opplæringslova (KD, 2006). This relates further
up to the theoretical model of feedback to
enhance learning (Figure 1), learning theories
and theories of motivation.
The teachers understanding appear to be at bit
fragmented. They have worked with goals and
criteria for achievement, and such subprojects
can contribute to explain their fragmented
awareness. They partially meet the requirements
and expectations stated in Forskrift til
opplærigslova (KD, 2006)
The research argues that teachers aim to
clarify task goals for their students.
Furthermore they see it as important to give
feedback on the student draft to drive their
learning further. Mostly the feedback is
written text directed at the task level, less
at the process level and the self-regulation
level. Self-assessment seems to be incorporated
in association with student conference twice a
year. Apparently the information regarding
assessment is rarely used to alter the teaching
in order to reach more students. The students
rarely seem to participate in assessing
themselves and each other, but are sometimes
part of assessment discussions in general. The
students appear to be motivated for each
writing task, probably related to thorough pre-
writing activities. However, the lack of
participation in their own learning argues that
the level of intrinsic motivation (Ryan and
Deci, 2000) and self-regulation does not
increase.